The present invention relates to an apparatus for supporting plants, such as a tomato plant, for example. More particularly, the invention relates to a space-saving and easily assembled gardening apparatus used for growing plants.
Through the efforts of genetic engineers and scientists, the quality and the quantity of crop bearing plants are steadily improving. The total weight of tomatoes, for example, on a tomato plant may prevent the stems and branches from growing straight and upright and eventually may cause damage by the breakage of the stems or branches.
In order to efficiently accommodate more plants in a given area, it is preferred that the plants grow upwardly by loosely fastening the stems on a supporting structure. One attempt to deal with this problem has been the utilization of a fence-like structure or trellis to support the crop burdened stems. However, it has been found the productivity of the plant is reduced by forcing the plant to climb on a trellis in two dimensions. Another attempt has been to place a cage formed by a network of wire, wood, string, or the like, on the top of the plant so as to provide a three-dimensions supporting structure. Nevertheless, the bulky cage causes storage problems for those who store more than a few.
If the seasonal plant is grown in a pot outdoors and allowed to climb on a trellis or caging on a ground fixed supporting structure, the pot cannot be relocated with facility to indoors in the late season when adverse temperature changes occur. As a result, the harvest period is shortened and immature crop is wasted. Also, the plant on such supporting structure cannot be relocated to avoid or minimize daily problems such as heavy rain, strong wind, insects, strong sunlight, or the like.
An object of the present invention is to provide a plant supporting structure which overcomes problems of the existing supporting structures.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a space-saving plant supporting structure which may be easily assembled for use and disassembled for storage or transit.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a gardening apparatus which allows the seasonal plants to be grown indoors in all seasons.